The current application is a substitute application for U.S. application Ser. No. 07/838,491, which is hereby explicitly abandoned.
Conventional automotive sun visors are typically mounted near the top portion of a windshield directly in front of both the driver and passenger seat in the passenger compartment. Such visors are pivoted so as to be positioned in an upward position near or up against the roof of the compartment, or so as to be positioned in a downward shielding position for shielding sunlight or other glare from a driver's or passenger's eyes.
Such visors are of a shape and length so as not to interfere with a rear view mirror that is typically situated between the visors in the approximate center of the windshield. As such, conventional visors leave a considerable space open above and around the rear view mirror, through which sun and other glare often passes, rendering the conventional visors essentially useless.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,620,222 to Beauchamp on Dec. 2, 1952, teaches a sun visor device for attachment to or near a rear view mirror assembly for blocking or reducing light from entering the vehicle around the periphery of the rear view mirror. Such a device, while well-suited for blocking such light has several considerable drawbacks which explain its scant acceptance in the marketplace. Such a device is relatively complicated to manufacture, and consists of several separate pieces that must be assembled. As such, this type of device is relatively expensive. Further, such a device has a metal clip for attaching to a centerpost of the windshield. Such centerposts are no longer widely used in vehicles, and therefore this type of attaching means is not useful in most modern day vehicles.
Clearly, then, there is a need for a sun shade device for spanning the distance between the ends of the conventional vehicle visors, and that is easily attached to a wide variety of vehicle mirror assemblies or windshields. Such a needed device would not interfere with the use of the rear view mirror, and in fact would facilitate the use of the rear view mirror by preventing surrounding glare and sunlight from interfering with its use. Further, such a needed device could be made with various pockets for retaining sunglasses, writing implements, or the like. Still further, such a needed device would have an attractive appearance, and would not require tools for installation thereof. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages.